When Covid arrived in March 2020, many church leaders were cautioned to begin preparing for an economic disaster. As churches began to shutter, many wondered how they would stay afloat amidst the pandemic. I wanted to learn more about what these past 18 months have taught us - was there an economic disaster? How did churches respond?

I was at the Global Leadership Summit when I heard Craig Groeschel say that because of Covid, “A lot of you find yourselves leading through the dip.” I heard that and said loudly, “I didn’t find myself leading through the dip. I freaking signed-up for the dip!”

There are many leaders within our congregations who have a wealth of knowledge and experience, and there are younger leaders yearning for mentorship. I was curious to learn how we as church leaders could best serve these high-capacity folks within our congregation and steward their insight.

Healthy leaders never stop learning from others, regardless of how successful they get. They may not be able to sit through 100% of every conference they speak at, but when you look at the routine of their life—they know they still have much to learn. Healthy leaders exercise the humility that it takes to be a keynote speaker one day, and sit in the front row taking notes the next.

Often, businesses are built to solve the founder’s problem, and Casey Caston founded Marriage365 in response to the difficulty of navigating a healthy marriage and leading a ministry. Originally, Marriage365 was not aimed at couples in ministry, but over time, they have evolved to serve couples both in and out of the church.

Our brains naturally create a narrative about the behavior of others. When something bad happens—someone cuts us off in traffic, a friend stops reaching out, a coworker takes credit for our work—we instantly assume negative things about the other person. We assume we know his motivation, and we often ascribe ill intent with no real facts.

Recently, I had a great conversation with Krisha Beuhler, VP of Human Resources at BELAY, where we talked about BELAY’s approach to remote and hybrid leadership. They are not only a virtual staffing company—they have been fully remote as a staff since their inception in 2010.

I’ve had some great bosses. I’ve also had some really unhealthy bosses. If you work for the same person very long, you’ll find sometimes they are very healthy, and other seasons when they are stressed and unhealthy. I’m sure the same could be said of me.

My longtime friend and mentor, Jack Hamilton joined us to “remind us about some things that you already know,” like Peter in 2 Peter.

Kadi Cole is the founder of Kadi Cole & Company, a leadership development company specializing in equipping individuals and organizations. We sat down for a virtual interview to discuss how to develop female leaders.

In her time with us, Holly shared what she’s learning about the workplace’s newest demographic challenge: the Gen Z employee. Holly, a Millennial, offered her own experience leading the next generation and emphasized the importance of people development in the workplace.

I had the pleasure of sitting down with Matt Tresidder, CEO and Co-Founder of Leadr, to discuss the power of the 1:1 meeting, and the mission of Leadr to develop 1M leaders with their people development software.

Ricky is the senior pastor of Southwest Church in Indian Wells, Calif., where he leads a fast-growing community of believers compelled by its vision to be a gospel-centered, multiethnic, intergenerational church that loves discipleship. Ricky focused his time with our members on the leadership “R.I.D.E.,” an acronym inspired by Paul’s remarkable model of leadership presented to us in 2 Timothy.

I want to be relevant well into old age. And I want to do that through pouring into those who have most of their life in front of them. Who’s with me?

Carey Nieuwhof shared about his own experience with burn out and what it looks like to come back from it. We were joined by Jenni Catron, who spoke about the building blocks for organizational success.

Tony Morgan, Founder & Lead Strategist at The Unstuck Group, sat down with me (virtually) for an interview to discuss the Unstuck Church Report and the church trends he has noticed over the past year.

I was so excited when Miguel De La Mora joined our team in February. We invited Miguel on to our team to fill the role of Campus Pastor at Willow Creek Community Church, as well as being on our teaching team. As Miguel and I were talking one day, he began to talk about the difference between an owned vision and borrowed vision. It was so good, I asked him if I could unpack it with him via video interview.

We have lost the ability to “agree to disagree.” We have stopped treating people with the dignity that every human being deserves. We don’t seem able to discuss or debate a weighty topic without attacking the person who takes the other position.

Dan Reiland, author, speaker, and executive pastor at 12Stone Church sat down with me (virtually) for an interview to discuss confident leadership. Dan and I have been friends for many years and have even coached together in the past.

Kadi is the founder of Kadi Cole & Company, a leadership development company specializing in equipping individuals and organizations. Kadi presented insights from her books, Find Your Leadership Voice in 90 Days and Developing Female Leaders. She dedicated most of her session to answering many of the tough questions our members had about developing and empowering female leaders in their churches.